CATALOGUE. 313 rather distant pinnse oblong-ovate; pinnules roundish-ovate, crenate and incised; the ends of the lobules reflexed and forming herbaceous involucres; segments at length flat.—Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, vi, p. 33. Ca&ou 15 miles north of Santa Barbara, California [Mrs. Ellwood Cooper); Sierra Valley [J. G. Lemmon), and near San Bernardino, Dr. Parry. This has much the appearance of the eastern C. vestita, which ranges from New York to Kansas, but which has never been found west of the Eocky Mountains. In C. vestita, the hairs are always very acute, while in the present species they are usuaUy tipped with a glandular and viscid enlargement. The rootstock appears to be short, and its scales are soft and of a deep ferruginous brown. §3. PHYSAPTERIS. Ultimate segments minute, rounded ; involucre usually continuous all round the margin; fronds, in all our species, 2-3-pinnate, with the lower surface tomentose or scaly, the tomentum or scales at first white, often becoming tawny as the fronds mature. *Frond tomentose beneath, but not scaly (except on the rachises in C. Eatoni). -I- Upper surface naked or nearly so; frond rarely more than twice pinnate. Cheilanthes gracillima, D. C. Eaton. Rootstocks creeping, branched, and forming a dense entangled mass, scaly with narrow rigid dark-ferruginous chaff; stalks slender, dark chestnut-brown, glossy, 3-4 inches long; frond 1-4 inches long, linear- oblong, bipinnate; primary and secondary rachises bearing delicate nar¬ row bright-brown scales, as do the stalks when young; pinnse many pairs, crowded, 3-6 lines long, pinnately divided into about 9 closely placed oblong-oval ultimate pinnules, which are rounded and at first slightly webby above, soon smooth, f-1 line long, beneath heavily covered with pale-ferruginous matted wool; involucres yellowish-brown, formed of the continuously recurved margin.—Botany of Mexican Boundary, p. 234; Hooker & Baker, Syn. Fil. p. 139. C. vestita, Brackenridge, Ferns of U. S. Exploring Expedition, p. 91 (not of Swartz). In rocky places, mostly at high elevations, 6000-8000 ft., from the Yosemite to Oregon. Sacra,- mento Valley, Brackenridge. Mendocino Co., Kellogg f Marford. Near Pend d'Oreille Eiver, British Colnmbiaj Lyall. Eeadily distinguished from the other species of this section of the genus by the naked upper surface of the pinnules, and by the rarely more than bipinnate fronds. The Mendocino County specimens and those from Sacramento Valley exceed the common dimensions a little; and in these there is a slight tendency towards a thrice pinnate condition of the frond. Called "Lace Fern" by visitors to the Yosemite.